The other fourteen carried a less number of slaves (and they might have
taken more on board if they had pleased): so that the average number in the
nineteen was but one man and four-fifths to a ton, or ten in a hundred
below their lowest standard[A]. One again said, that no inconvenience arose
in consequence of the narrow space allowed to each individual in these
voyages. Another said, that smaller vessels were more healthy than larger,
because, among other reasons, they had a less proportion of slaves as to
number on board.
[Footnote A: The falsehood of their statements in this respect was proved
again afterwards by facts. For, after the regulation had taken place, they
lost fewer slaves and made greater profits.]
They were found also guilty of a wilful concealment of such facts, as they
knew, if communicated, would have invalidated their own testimony. I was
instrumental in detecting them on one of these occasions myself. When Mr.
Dalzell was examined, he was not wholly unknown to me. My Liverpool
muster-rolls told me that he had lost fifteen seamen out of forty in his
last voyage.
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